I've come uncorked... sort of. After 38 years of being a virtual tea-totler I've been swayed by the scientific research about the great health benefits of having red wine daily. Actually there's a lot of information in that first sentence so let's look at several key parts of it...
Me the virtual tea-totler. Yes actually. Growing up I always wanted to be the upright good kid. I think I sipped some bits of port or beer offered by family growing up but I generally hated it all back then. In high school I was determined to make a statement by not getting drunk or partying, not becoming another potential drunk driver, not hanging out with the crowds I generally didn't like. Drinking in Kansas, in my opinion, was overemphasized or excessive. Then in college I held my ground until my senior year. I sampled some beer and wine coolers and a couple times I got drunk with friends or roommates. I always was "home" when I did it and it only happened a couple of times. Then in graduate school in Boston they had drinks at a few social events and I had some. I also threw a couple of parties with graduate friends and I probably got dangerously drunk at one of them, waking up with vomit next to the bed. Granted these examples sound like I became a drinker but it's no exaggeration that I've been drunk less than 5 times and virtually a prohibitionist since my first year of graduate school. Several of my current co-workers, for example, have been drinkers for years and tried for years to get me to join them. Most of the time I was just a diet coke. They're genuinely shocked at my new interest in wine.
The scientific evidence of red wine's health benefits: Sorry I don't have footnotes but there is an amazing quantity and variety of studies out there that red wine is a life saver. It lowers LDL cholesterol, raises HDL cholesterol, contains resveretrol (spelling?) which is an anitfungal agent produced by grape vines to protect themselves and which imparts amazing health on its drinkers. Apparently there are over 100 biochemical components of red wine the advantage of which are just starting to be understood. The famous "French Paradox" in which despite high fat diets with few vegetables the longest life spans on earth belong to the peoples of Southwest France is largely explained by their red wine consumption. There are even strange side benefits in the research such as wine applied topically can help prevent oral herpes outbreak. In fact the more you read the more you realize the only negative to wine is the alchohol content, and as long as you stick to moderation there's no problem with that. Ordinary grape juice reportedly as some of these same benefits but it doesn't raise HDL and it doesn't contain the same concentrations as wine. Anyway, I do drink grape juice too, and nightly at home I have one glass of red wine. Purportedly the darker reds from the colder growing zones are the most potent. Cabernet sauvignon, petit shiraz, malbec, and I'm sure there are more. Before starting this experiment I took aspirin from time to time because I felt a need to thin out my blood so to speak. I almost never need it now that I have a glass of wine a day.
The start of the journey: My initial plan was to focus on French red wine. It's a big complicated mystery to me, plus my company is French owned and we sometimes entertain guests at restaurants, so I wanted at least a basic knowledge of French wine. That's gone great although I get the sense you can study and drink French wine for 10 years and still barely scratch the surface of what there is to know. I did get a great book in the beginning from DK publishers which gave me a giant leap in understanding the French classifications. Also I'm fortunate to live near Boston which not only has a lot of French choices in the stores but a concentration of wine authorities who know alot more than just what comes out of the Western US. I also have a book on world wine from the same publisher so I'm trying to shake up my selections a bit. Also note although I'm focusing on red there are some whites from time to time because Nancy prefers white, and in fact originally I did too, so I keep both kinds on hand now. But usually I'll just taste a new white and then poor the full glass for me from one of my reds instead.
Initially most of the wines I buy are in the $15 to $20 range. I'd like to lower that to $10 just for the volume/economics of it all but I wanted to know what decent wine should taste like before trying to find comparable value wines. A couple of times I've bought wines close to $30 because they were a French kind I hadn't been able to find in the lower price ranges.
I also want to emphasize that I intend to never become a wine snob, or at least to never be the type of drinker that turns wine appreciation into a drama. I do want to know what I'm doing, and i want to make good choices, and I can say wine has already become a second hobby for me, but let's not lose track of the fact that I started this for my health.
The journey so far:
1) Chateau Bellevue Pecharneau 2001 (French, bordeaux) Astringent, strong, dry, lasts on palette. Probably a better wine than I knew to recognize in the beginning.
2) J. Lohr Chardonnay 2004 (Californian). I'd picked a bottle of this to bring to the in-laws last Thanksgiving and it was a huge hit because it tastes like a delicious champaigne but without the bubbly. I've also tried the 2005 and it's good but the 2004 had an edge.
3) Domaine Ste. Michelle Blanc de Noir Sparkling Wine (I forgot what year)(Oregon valley I think). It was a gift everyone at work got the prior year. Frankly we didn't like it too much and it might have made Nancy sick. But I probably should have opened it the year we received it so that may be my own fault. It could be past prime.
4) Bourgogne Passetoutgrain 2004 (French, Burgundy). My first burgundy. OK, but kind of weak and wattery. Probably it needed to age more.
5) Georges Dubeuf Boujelais-Villages Nouveau 2006 (French, Boujelais). I laugh now as I write this because I didn't realize this is a mass produced cheap wine which I'm told the French generally frown on as an inside joke. You're a sucker for marketing if you buy this. Both my boss and some reading on the internet confirmed this is simply cheap wine mass marketed.
6) Domaine Paul Autard Red Rhone Wine 2005 (French, Cotes du Rhone). My boss recommended Rhone wines and that was a great tip. Spicy, dark, rich. Granted there were some tough tannins at the end but those are supposed to be good for you anyway and I probably should have let this age awhile first.
7)&8) Achaia Clauss Demestica (both Red and White). Years ago I had some of the white in a Turkish restaurant with a classmate. Back then I thought it was good. It's not bad but both of these are basically dry table wines. They're a good value for that purpose but no serious wine drinker would suggest they're more than that. The producer has higher grades of wine I haven't tried yet. Note there is some interesting history on this winery if you look it up on the web.
9) Chateau d'Aqueria Tavel (French, rose')(I forget the year?). This was recommended in my books as the most famous French rose' and with more complexity than most and we agree. We really liked it.
10) Chateau Arose-Trintaudo Haut-Medoc 2001 (French, bordeaux). Ditto what I said on #1, but I'd give #1 an edge because this had less bouquet and strength.
11) Chateau Pech Redon 2005 (French, Languedoc). Rose'. Unique flavor but it tasted overprocessed and didn't sit well in the stomach. Got it at Cardullo's, a really nice gourmet store, so maybe it had charms I'm not trained yet to appreciate. But a co-worker told me Languedoc is there least favorite French wine region and I'm inclined to agree (so far).
12) Ruffino Aziano Chianti Classico 2004 (Italy). A good well-balanced medium bodied wine. Nutty. Slight tannins. I'd always remembered I'd liked Chianti in the past.
13) Amador Foothill Zinfandel 2002 (Shenandoah Valley, California). The GRAND CHAMPION of everything tried so far. So bold and fruity. Sweet but not in a dessert wine way. It's a small producer and hard to find. If you ever see this label snatch it up.
14) Domaine Jacky Renard Bourgogne Cotes d'Auxerre (French, Pinot Noir Burgundy) (I forget the year). It was highly recommended in the store but it disappointed. The bouquet was very nice, almost like the zinfandel, but the flavor was weak and acidic. Maybe it needed to age more.
15) Pillar Box Red by Henry's Drive (Australia). Recommended as a great value it truly was. Deep, rich, pleasant. I believe it's unfiltered. BUY THIS ONE REGULARLY FOR A GOOD VALUE. A $10 wine which drinks like a $20.
16) Chateau Lamartine Cahors 2002 (French, south of bourdeaux). I believe this is the famous "black wine" of history referred to in my French book. It was very dark and I'm pretty sure it's the Malbec grape. I was excited to try it and it was pleasant but generally I was disappointed. For such a dark wine it really has a weak taste.
17) Terrazas de los Andes Mabec 2004 (Argentina). This is the South American equivalent of the black wine I just discussed. Supposedly the grape does better down there than in France. I'd say the wine was marginally better flavored, but it's still weak.
18) Bodegas Carrau Tannat de Reserva 2002 (Las Violetas Uruguay). You should try this but be forwarned. Tannat is an obscure grape originally from France but now grown mainly in Uruguay. It's a very tannic bitter grape. I though the first half of the bottle was pretty good, kind of like a slightly more tannic bordeaux (and in fact it was used in France to mix in bordeauxs originally). However, the bottom half of the bottle was much more tannic. The last glass was quite harsh. So I say try it for the experience. It was a good value at $10. But make sure it's the special reserve and that it's aged a good 4 or 5 years to mellow out the tannins a bit.
Whew. And that's what I've drank so far. So my safe recommendations so far are to buy whenever you can: 1) J. Lohr Chardonnay, 2) Amador Foothills Zinfandel, and 3) Pillar Box Red from Australia.
As a habit I'm saving the labels off all my first-tried bottles. Sometimes the year indication is separate and I miss it which is why on some of the entries above I no longer remember what year it was from.
I need to get some other stuff done, so for now... cheers!
